“Our continued emphasis on effective prosecution in courts has started yielding rich dividends, and I am happy to learn that conviction percentage in Vigilance cases has reached a record 48 percent this year. The investigators and prosecutors of the Department deserve appreciation and they should carry forward such good work,” said Patnaik addressing the Vigilance Awareness Week ceremony held today in Bhubaneswar.

“It is a matter of immense satisfaction that our pioneering efforts both in legislation and implementation have received nation-wide recognition and the governments of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajastan have enacted similar legislation on the line of the Odisha Special Courts Act,” he added.

Stating that the real objective of having a clean and transparent mechanism requires system strengthening, the Chief Minister said that the State Government has implemented RTI Act and various other transparency measures to build a strong mechanism and empower the people of the state.

“It has been the endeavour of my government to provide efficient and corruption free administration to the people of Odisha. In pursuit of this goal, my government has, over the years, created and strengthened several institutional mechanism to channel complaints of people into concrete actions in order to combat and eradicate corruption from the public life,” said the Chief Minister.

Citing some of the key areas where his government has been particularly successful, Patnaik went on to explain that his government has taken several initiatives like e-payments, e-tendering, Right to Public Service Act, single window system, payment of wages and benefits through bank payments, involvement of beneficiaries in monitoring mechanism, community involvement and involvement of PRIs, and an appropriate grievance redressal mechanism.

The Chief Minister also released a special postal cover, released a short film on Vigilance Helpline-1064 and conducted a pledge taking on transparency by officers besides awarding several officers for their performance on the occasion.